Sri Lankan President Sirisena assures hoteliers maximum financial help to revive tourism
Colombo: Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has assured hoteliers that the government will give them maximum financial relief to revive the lucrative tourism industry hit by the country's worst terror attack on Easter Sunday that killed 253 people, including 40 foreigners.
Tourism accounts for about five per cent of Sri Lanka's economy, with India, Britain and China being the main markets. India is the largest source market for Sri Lanka, which received 2.3 million tourists from around the world in 2018.
Around 450,000 Indian tourists visited Sri Lanka last year and the island nation was expecting the total Indian tourist arrivals to cross one million in 2019.
President Sirisena acknowledged during his meeting on Monday with the country's hoteliers that the tourism and hotel industries were worst hit after the string of powerful blasts ripped through three churches and as many luxury hotels on Easter Sunday, killing 253 people and injuring more than 500 others.
The bombs tore through three five-star hotels in Colombo: the Cinnamon Grand, the Shangri La and the Kingsbury. Forty foreigners, including 11 Indian nationals, died in the attacks.
Sirisena requested Central Bank Governor Indrajit Coomaraswamy to provide "maximum financial relief" immediately to the hoteliers, Sunday Times reported.
Hotels Association President Sanath Ukwatte said hoteliers had invested large sums of money in the development of the hotels and requested the government to provide a moratorium or waiver on the capital and interest for a period of at least two years.
During the meeting, the hoteliers also asked the government to hire the services of a professional public relations and communications unit to send out one message to the world.
President Sirisena agreed to appoint a Cabinet sub-committee to look into the requirements of the hoteliers, the report said.
The meeting was also attended by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Ministers, ministry officials and members of the industry.
The Easter Sunday blasts were the first time that tourists were specifically targeted. Following the bombings, the US, Britain, Australia, India and Israel warned their nationals against visiting Sri Lanka.
Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera recently told reporters that tourism will be the worst affected. "We expect a 30 per cent drop in arrivals and that means a loss of about USD 1.5 billion in foreign exchange," Samaraweera said, adding that the country could take up to two years to fully recover from the deadly bombings which shattered a decade of peace in the country.
Mount Lavinia Hotel south of the capital, a popular site for the tourists, has said there have been a large number of cancellations.
Galle Face Hotel top official Chandra Mohotti also said "there will be huge cancellations". In his first reaction to Sunday's blasts, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said tourism industry will be hit by the blasts.
"There will be a downward trend, Tourism will get affected. There may be fund outflows," Wickremesinghe said. The industry officials said the rebound from the attacks would depend on the security measures to be adopted.
Sri Lanka's tourism industry faced a difficult time until a decade ago due to the three-decade civil war with the LTTE which claimed at least 100,000 lives. However, in the recent years the island nation has emerged as a top tourist destination in Asia.
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Sujit Nair raises concerns over speculation of DMK-AIADMK understanding to block TVK
Chennai: Journalist and political commentator Sujit Nair has expressed concern over speculation that the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam could explore a post-poll understanding to prevent Vijay-led Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam from forming the government in Tamil Nadu.
In a social media post, Sujit Nair said the election verdict in Tamil Nadu reflected a clear public demand for political change and argued that the mandate should be respected irrespective of political preferences.
Referring to reports and political discussions surrounding a possible understanding between the DMK and AIADMK, he said he hoped such developments remained only speculative conversations and did not turn into reality.
Nair stated that if such an alliance were to take shape, it would raise serious questions about ideological politics in the country. He said TVK had emerged through a democratic electoral process and that the legitimacy to govern in a parliamentary democracy comes from the people’s verdict.
According to him, attempts to prevent an electoral winner from forming the government through unexpected political arrangements may be constitutionally valid, but many people could view them as politically opportunistic.
He further said that such a move could particularly affect the political image of the DMK, which has historically projected itself around ideology, social justice and opposition politics. Nair said that in ideological terms, the DMK appeared closer to TVK than to the AIADMK, and joining hands with its long-time political rival only to remain in power could weaken its broader political narrative.
He added that the same questions would apply to the AIADMK as well, as the party had spent decades positioning itself against the DMK and such an arrangement could create discomfort among its cadre and supporters.
Drawing a comparison with Maharashtra politics in 2019, Nair said he had expressed similar views when the Shiv Sena formed an alliance with the Indian National Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party after the Assembly elections.
He said post-poll alliances between long-standing political rivals often create a public perception that ideology and electoral mandates become secondary when political power equations come into play.
Nair also said such developments increase public cynicism towards politics and reinforce the belief among voters that ideology is often sidelined after elections.
He maintained that the Tamil Nadu verdict was emphatic and said respecting both the spirit and substance of the mandate was important for the credibility of democratic politics.
